What can assessment tell us? Psycho-Educational Evaluation 10/11/2013

Transcription

1 Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Psycho-Educational Evaluation (But Were Afraid to Ask) Susan Randich, Ph.D. Listening and Spoken Language Conference Indianapolis October 25, 2013 What is Psycho-educational Evaluation? Evaluation or Assessment is the process of using various tests, measurements, and observations to develop a deeper understanding of a child s functioning across multiple dimensions cognitive, linguistic, academic, emotional, etc. What can assessment tell us? General cognitive potential ( IQ ) Language proficiency Learning style, strengths and weaknesses Presence of processing deficits Level of academic skill development 1

2 Benefits of Evaluation In the public setting, may make child eligible for a range of special education services Suggests appropriate therapeutic interventions Provides a better understanding of the child as a learner and communicator Allows teaching to be individualized to the needs of the child Assesses progress of the child in language acquisition and academic skills development How does formal evaluation differ from informal or classroom assessment? Standardized tests are given the same way every time so that results are comparable: Across children: allows comparison of the child with other children of the same age or grade level Within the child: allows comparison of the child s abilities across skill areas Over time: allows an assessment of the child s growth and development over time Norms In formal standardized testing the child is compared with a large sample of other children of the same age or grade level Virtually all tests are normed on typical hearing children 2

3 Limitations of Tests A test is a useful but imperfect tool Importance of observations and judgment in interpreting test results Need for multiple sources of information (including teacher and parent observation) Decisions should never be made on the basis of one test A Very Short Course in Measurement Reliability and Validity Validity is the test measuring what it says it measures? Reliability would the test give the same result if it were given again? 3

4 Test Scores For any given test, there will be a variety of scores, for example: Reading decoding Standard Score = 106 Confidence Interval (.05) = Percentile Rank = 66 Grade Equivalent = 6.2 Standard Scores Compare children with typical hearing peers Used by both cognitive and academic tests Mean = 100, Standard Deviation = 15 > <70 Superior High Average Average Low Average Borderline Very Low, Delayed Standard Scores and the Normal Curve 4

5 Confidence Intervals The probability that the true score for an individual lies within a given range If a child earns a SS of 106, with a.05 confidence interval of 102 to 110, that means that there is a 95% chance that the child s true score is between 102 and 110, and a 5% chance that the true score is actually higher or lower Types of Scores: Percentiles Percentile rank = the percentage of students who would fall below a given score Compare children with typical peers Example: a student who scores at the 66 th percentile would score higher than 66% of children who took the test Percentile ranks of 25 to 75 are within the average range Normal Distribution: Percentile Rank 5

6 Types of Scores: Age and Grade Equivalents The median raw score for a particular age- or grade-level Example: if a child earns a grade equivalent of 6.2, this means that he or she has as many correct answers as a typical child in the second month of 6 th grade Can appear to be the most understandable to parents but Limitations of age and grade equivalents Intervals not necessarily even or linear Not interval scales shouldn t be added or subtracted Not interpretable at extremes Does not say anything about the pattern of the child s skills and ability Should never be used to make decisions about diagnosis or placement Types of Tests 6

7 Types of Tests: Cognitive Overall aptitude or ability Development of key processing skills Attention Working memory Processing speed Learning strengths and weaknesses Common Cognitive Tests Wechsler Intelligence Scale For Children (WISC-IV) ages 6 to 17 years Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence (WPPSI-IV) ages 2-½ to 7-½ Woodcock-Johnson Scales of Intelligence Leiter-R and Leiter-3 Intelligence Scales (nonverbal) TONI-2 and C-TONI (nonverbal) Verbal vs. Nonverbal Intelligence Most intelligence tests provide a Verbal score and Nonverbal score (typically averaged together to obtain a Full Scale score For children with deafness, the Full Scale IQ is usually not an appropriate measure of ability The most accurate estimate of their true cognitive potential is the Nonverbal score The verbal score should not be interpreted as a measure of intelligence for a child who is deaf 7

8 What does the Verbal IQ Score really measure? Academic Language Ability ( Cognitive-Academic Language Proficiency ) Acquired vocabulary Ability to comprehend increasingly complex sentence and question forms Ability to express complex thoughts and ideas in words Acquired verbal knowledge Verbal reasoning skills Interpretation of cognitive test scores in children with deafness The Verbal Score should be interpreted as a measure of acquired language rather than intelligence For children with hearing loss, the Verbal Score is typically significantly lower the Nonverbal Score Ideally, we would like the child s Verbal score to improve until it is close the Nonverbal Score, suggesting that the child s verbal skills are close to their cognitive potential Assessing Learning Disabilities in Children with Deafness Learning disabilities (legal term) vs. processing weaknesses or disorders Ability achievement discrepancy Why it doesn t work with deaf children Why deaf auditory processors sometimes test as intellectually deficient Need for a more process-oriented approach 8

9 Importance of discriminating language delay from academic weaknesses Need to tease out how much of student s academic struggle is due to language deficit and how much is due to other learning differences Is there a language disorder in addition to the child s hearing impairment? Assessing processing weaknesses in children with deafness Visual vs. auditory processing Attention and executive processing Visual-motor integration/graphomotor skills Processing speed Memory working, short-term, long-term Types of Tests: Academic Achievement How does the child compare with others of the same age or grade on broad reading, math, written language, and academic language? Is the child developing crucial academic subskills? 9

10 Choosing Tests for the Student with Hearing Loss How complicated are the tasks or the instructions? How is the material presented verbally, pictures, print? How is the child expected to respond open ended verbal response, single word response, in writing, pointing to a picture? Important Issues for the Evaluator Audition Does the child hear me? Comprehension Can the child understand me and the language of the test? Expression Is the child able to express the skills or knowledge he or she possesses in the format required by the test? Assessing Academic Subskills A score on a standardized reading or math test doesn t tell us much about the problem or how to help 10

11 Reading Subskills Phonemic awareness Sound-symbol association Decoding Fluency Reading vocabulary Factual comprehension Inferential comprehension Math Subskills Number sense Quantitative reasoning Math facts Math procedures Math concepts Word problems Written Expression Subskills Graphomotor ability (printing and writing) Spelling Capitalization and punctuation Written language structure Ideas and Content 11

12 Typical Pattern of Skills in Children with Hearing Loss Strengths in mechanics Reading decoding/word recognition Math calculation Spelling Capitalization and punctuation Typical Pattern of Skills in Children with Hearing Loss Weaknesses in areas that require language Reading comprehension Math word problems Written sentence structure Expression of ideas content may be minimal or poorly expressed Types of Tests: Behavioral Behavior checklist can be completed by the parent and/or teacher to assess: Attentional problems (ADHD) Adaptive functioning (self-help skills, etc.) Emotional and behavioral problems Sensory issues Allows a comparison of the child s behavior with peers of the same age and sex 12

13 Evaluation Under IDEA Obtaining an Evaluation Evaluation can be requested by the school or the parent Need to show the necessity for the evaluation Need to show that interventions have been unsuccessful Re-evaluation under IDEA IDEA requires re-evaluations at 3 year intervals, but upon reviewing the existing data the district may decide that no further information is needed, and elect not to test Testing is only required if there is a question of a new or additional educational diagnosis 13

14 Review of Existing Data (RED) Meeting The evaluation team reviews the child s functioning over multiple domains and decides whether there is a need for additional information or testing in each domain The assessment is planned, including specification of the tests to be used The parent must give consent More on evaluation procedures Evaluation must take place within 60 days following RED meeting The team must reconvene to report results within 30 days of testing (often this is coupled with an IEP meeting) Questions to ask about evaluations Does the psychological examiner have experience working with children with deafness or hearing loss? Does the examiner have experience working with CI users? Does the examiner have experience in interpreting test results for children with hearing impairments? 14

15 Independent Evaluations If the parents disagree with the results of the evaluation, they may request an independent evaluation at the district s expense (although this will not necessarily be granted) For more information State Department of Education website Procedural Safeguards Recommended reference: What Do I Do When : The Answer Book of Special Education Law by John W. Norlin 15